It's all about who you know nowadays

Here we go, the blog that so many have begged for a long time. So here I am to inform everyone about my cruise! On October 16th my friend Autumn Starnes celebrated her 21st birthday. It was that morning that i received an email from Princess about a special last minute booking price for a Mexican Riviera cruise:) Being so last minute, I jokingly mentioned it to Autumn. One thing led to another and "Happy Birthday to Autumn" we booked the cruise and eagerly looked forward to the embarkation 2 weeks later! So here we go, from day numero uno!

here is the mess i made packing. I found out the morning of our departure that I didn't have a suitcase. So i had to pack HALF as much as i took on my last cruise. I wasn't too concerned about taking less clothes though, just because I knew that I didn't even come close to wearing all my clothes last time. Basically all i needed was a few nice shirts, beach attire, sunblock and at least 3 swimsuits haha.

Autumn and I flew into LA on Friday morning/afternoon to ensure we would make our cruise in time. We stayed with a friend we graduated with us who lives in Hollywood:) We had so much fun catching up with her! Autumn and her helped me experience a few new things, one being sushi:) I LOVED IT! They told me what I should order, knowing what was fishy and what wasn't. So much fun to be able to see and visit with old friends. Saturday morning Mandie took us to the ship. Unfortunately we missed our exit and drove all the way across this bridge into Long Beach California. Set us about 30-45 minutes behind in checking in. We were one of the last ones to check in for the departure:) Being one of the last ones one the boat wasn't a horrible thing - it meant no lines, and quicker luggage delivery!

After seeing our room, and dropping off our purses, we headed to the decks to watch the boat leave LA:)

We made sure to see the sunset before unpacking our suit cases on night numero uno.

Our cruise left LA October 31st, so along with the entire crew dressed up in costumes, they also decorated all the common areas:)

This Celebrity boat followed us most of the way to Puerto Vallerta.

Autumn and I in front of the sunset our first night on board.

The first night of dinner we ate in one of the anytime dining rooms! We sat next to the nicest couple, the Kreugers! They were from Alabama, and were in their late 40's. They were traveling alone for their anniversary and had no kids. We had so much fun learning all about them, and their cruising experiences!

After dinner we went to look at the tours offered at the tour desk, only to be tracked down by an employee. We took a picture with him for good measure.

After changing into some more comfortable clothes, we decided to check out the skywalkers night club. Mostly everyone was wasted early on in the afternoon in celebration of Halloween, so autumn and i sat and drank water and watched all these crazy people think they were hot stuff. We ran into a guy dressed as a cop. We called him "the cop" the whole trip. He was traveling with his son, and brothers family. I asked him if i could have his handcuffs. Unfortunately they were plastic, and to get us to dance he cuffed autumn and i together and kept the key. We ended up going onto the dance floor and lasted 1 minute before the plastic chain broke. Oops:)

Two friends we met from Houston, TX. They work for vacations to go, and were cruising on their travel agent benefits. The one dressed as dresser is in fact a "one nigh stand" Kind of funny, and the other is Bruce lee.

After dancing the night away, we headed down a deck to play shuffle board. I took a moment to take a picture with the life size checker board pieces.

The 1st day was an "At Sea" day, en route to our first port Puerto Vallerta. They decorated Autumns room for her birthday!

The 2nd night was formal night. Autumn thought it was cute that i cleared off the desk, and sat in front of the mirror to do my makeup while rocking out to my iPod.

We quickly got ready for the first formal evening!

Autumn and I in front of the captains champagne waterfall

So Pretty:)

Formal Night (#1) Dinner!

The second day was an "At Sea" day again. They had all sorts of pool games and seminars going on, Autumn and I woke up early and laid in the sun before competing in a bar war? I had no idea what it was, but i got signed up to do it without my knowledge.

So the game was Battle of the Sexes. Two different "bars" and 5 people on each team. We were assigned a bar tender who would help us make the drink. There was a speed test, and an employee judged taste test. This is me (clueless as to what i was doing) mixing some type of drink. But i won a free tee shirt! I lost in speed, but won in taste!

The camera loved Autumn and I, this is him asking how the drinks tasted. Of course I gave mine to autumn, but I got to keep the Princess cup:)

Autumn and I with the drinks we made, our bartender, and the free T-shirt as our prize.

Autumn and I standing by the pool:)

Autumn and I at one of the shows

We went shopping in puerto vallerta, then decided to go para sailing. No big deal. So much fun:) We started and landed on the beach, and got to take our cameras up! So pretty, best 10 minutes of my life so far!

Puerto Vallerta, Mexico

My parachutes shadow

I loved it, needless to say!

Autumn landing!

Laying out on the beach!

Puerto Vallerta, Mexico sunset! Looks like it's on fire, so pretty!

Autumn received a birthday cake and song in spanish for the second night we celebrated her birthday. We were so tired after our long day in Puerto Vallerta that we decided to hit the buffet instead of getting all dressed up for the dining room. The guy in the white was really into Autumn and tried setting up a "champagne" date with her later in the night. Kind of funny, considering he's like 40.

We love our shirts:) Oh, and asians.

Bad weather was moving in on mazatlan. Here is the sunset when leaving Mazatlan

Our personal goal was to have our picture used as a Princess Example on their boards. Lucky for us our friend helped make it happen ... with some tape!

Because the performers are brand new on the ship, they held a staff talent show. the balloon party was to help get the crowd loose and excited for the show. It was fun to see the talent that the crew had:) I would have never known. There are 40 different nationalities on the Sapphire Princess:)

This is our bartender Sidney, from the phillipines. He helped us win in the Battle of the Sexes Bar wars:) But more importantly became our REALLY good friend throughout the week, and continued to make us free drinks. Mine always virgin of course, but more fun than water:)

The cocktail waiter in the bar Sidney works at. His name is Irving and he's from Mexico. He was the sweetest guy ever, and always ensured a smile on our faces.

The last port was Cabo. It was pretty, but very touristy and packed with 3 ships worth of people. Here are the giant birds in the marina. I hate birds.

Autumn and I riding the Tender boat to shore:)

I'm in front a sign at a resteraunt called the Giggling Marlin in Cabo:)

My free Shirley Temple:)

(2nd) Formal Night, with the Vacations to Go reps:) Fun boys!

Dancing with one of the Cruise Directors in the Skywalkers nightclub.

Our best friend on the cruise, Clinton. He is a photographer, from boise, served his mission in Portugel, and adorable. We would get married - if we were in the positions to do so! Love him.

He was so much fun!

A quick picture with cruise director Miko from Seattle on the last night of the cruise!

I took this for dad - on our cruise in April they only served ice cream on certain days, only at certain times in the buffet. My the Sapphire Princess they have a complementary Ice Cream stand next to the outdoor pool:)

Me, J & Cindy Krueger from Alabama, and Autumn. Sweetest people I've ever met. They even paid for our cab fair in Mazatlan. So much fun:)

Autumn and I at the end of our cruise, before walking off the ship at 8 am. We bought "swine flu survivor" shirts in Cabo. haha, we wore them on our trip home, We got so many questions throughout the day!

We started flying out of LAX at 10 am, and didn't get into spokane until 9 pm. I arrived home around 3am after waiting for autumns flight and adam to get off work. Over all this was the vacation of a life time. Full of much needed rest, and laughter. We met so many great people and friends that we will keep in contact with! I can't wait to go on another trip, Autumn was so fun to travel with, and we are really happy that it was just the two of us traveling together as we're both really easy-going individuals. Now it's back to reality, and work! Hopefully to save up for another vacation REAL soon:):)

Changes :)

Change is inevitable. I have had a lot of time to think this past weekend and I think I have finally come to peace with all that has occurred over the past couple years! Not only in relationships, but friends...family...trips. I'm finally satisfied with where I've been, where I'm at, and where I'm headed. Yesterday was June 7th. Which, many of you would remember one year ago when I thought my life was over. Someone very important to me walked out of my life, and I wasn't sure how to go on without that individual. The struggle over the past year has taught me so much, and helped me mature and grow into the person I've been yearning to become. As an adult now, I need to step up to the plate and begin making smart choices that will not only benefit me, but possibly others around me. With a smile on my face, I now lay down at night satisfied with my surroundings. I can't be more grateful how things played out! Without coming to Rexburg this spring I would have never made the advances I have. I now know that relationships come and go. The important ones stick by your side through thick and thin, and the rest get weeded out. As much as I love the idea of my past goals, they were unrealistic. Dad was right. Jeremy was right. Curt was right. Matt was right. Adam was supportive which I'm grateful but he too was right. Stephanie was more than right... Mom understood what I was going through and I couldn't have made it without her support and love. Many hours...(too many hours at that) spent wasted on pointless tears and worries. Exactly a year later, I've overcome the ongoing "love-battle" and walk out my door every day for a new adventure, and new acquaintances. How wonderfully blessed I am to have such an amazing family:) I can't thank Heavenly Father enough for my best friends that have held my hand through the years to keep me on the straight and narrow path! I'm surprised it took a year. wow! We all grow up so fast!

Well, I wanted to share the following little conversation I recently had with a close friend back home. He said he had figured me out, (doubtful I don't even know myself sometimes) but he nailed it pretty much the first try! Kind of interesting, he must read too many horoscopes!

Bryan :
k your smart, obviously you graduated with honors or atleast a high gpa from sandpoint then did your lil alaska thingy and now your going to a decently known college, you have a head on your shoulders but that also came from the high standards your parents kind of set while you were growing up. Not super strict but enough to keep you in line. relationships are big in your life, you haven't had many but the ones you have had you will never forget, and for you it's hard to get over things, which is fine because you have a strong heart and alot of passion with the things you do. Now your looking up in a positive manner towards your future, hopefully find a guy in the near future, someone who you feel comfortable with and a possible life long partner. You want to suceed in school not only to please yourself but to please your parents, seeing how a lot of their money was invested in it. A big reason you lie awake at night is when you were going through the break up you would stay up late, thinking, crying, etc. and there would be a lot of sleepless nights so your mind got into a rythm of thinking about life, and stuf in general before you fall asleep. So now that the dust has settled your mind is set on the "lets review the day before i pass out" and think of upcoming events you use it more of a tool now to ease yor mind and sleep better. You're strong!

he's so nice! Well that's all i wanted to share for now. No pictures this time dad. I'm just finally happy being myself, making my own decisions, and being independent.

Parking at the Ridge

apparently they didn't teach people in Georgia how to Park!

Hence...The terrible Parking! Does that even look like the attempted to make it in the lines?

I don't think so.

What the..Really? thanks a ton for making me park so far away!

[This post if for Rick really]

I wanted to call Rick so he could come put an Orange Warning sticker on this girls vehicle. She sucks at parking EVERY NIGHT! It's so irritating. But I didn't see it till like 12:55 am when I got home, so I knew Rick would be sleeping. Being the kind friend I am, I decided to not wake him up, make him get out of bed. At least this car is NOT even close to being in 1 spot. crazy. Girls @ the ridge really suck at driving. Ok wait, most girls and most boys, they are all reckless...

David Cook - Permanent

I think this is my new favorite song.

Porter Park

I love the park! Can you tell by me going down the slide. I think when I came out of the slide Stephanie's old assistant mark and his wife were giving me funny looks. They're just jealous.

We went to the park on Sunday for a nap and studying. It was so much fun and productive. There's nothing like spending a Sunday in the warm sunny park on the swings and falling asleep:)

FHE

For FHE this past week we went out to the sand dunes in St. Anthony. Only one of our FHE brothers went, so it was up to the girls to get the fire wood, and everything ready to go. I hauled all the wood out from Scuba Steves! When we got there, I had to park on the only rock in sight of course. This was the conversation in my truck while i pulled up on it.

Deanna - " I just want to be like all the guys "
Ashley - " Are we going to get stuck? "
Deanna - " NO WAY! I Still have it in 2... "

Haha it was so funny! The fire was a pain to get going, especially since the guy who was building it didn't really know what he was doing. Finally me and this other girl from Rigby jumped in and took over. It was going in no time at all:) We roasted s'mores!

And of course, we had to put the fire out somehow. All I had was a bucket of water that wasn't really going to go too far, and an ax. So I got thrifty and used my "for sale" sign from my truck to throw sand on. It was out as fast as it was lit. Creative, I know.

Mothers Day

Since we couldn't go home to be with our mothers, we thought we'd celebrate and go all out on our dinner. We made Chicago dogs, with watermelon, potato salad, carrots and ranch, chips, and lemonade! Of course with it being such a gorgeous day out, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to grill outside, and have a picnic. We asked Rick to borrow his grill and he gladly said yes. To his surprise not all girls are the brightest crayons in the crayola box though. We'll come back to that later.

The only open spots in the parking lot are of course the handicap.

There's nothing like good roommates:)

The picnic

I love these two more than anything!

Ashley is a true sweetheart from Chicago. She's not my roommate but we adopted her!

This is how the picnic ended. Let me explain. I was over at Ashley's (my adopted roommate) and Rick called wanting to pick up his grill. We had left the coals to cool off in the grill and since it wasn't my sunday for cooking I called the roommates who were in charge of that afternoons meal. I told them Rick was coming in a half hour to pick up his grill, and asked them to dispose of the coals. Katie asked me what to do with them, I told her to find some rocks and dump them out. I asked her not to do it right in front of the apartment though. Rick got his grill, and I was home by then. The grill was cleaned and sure enough there were a few spots of coal along the rock wall in front of our apartment. Ashley, Chantal and I went for a Sunday drive and when we were on our way back, we got passed by a cop car. As it pulled into the ridge we were so curious as to what was going on...then we spotted it, the dumpster on fire. I didn't even wait for Ashley to stop the car and I jumped out to run inside my apartment and ask them where they put the coals > I wanted to double check to make sure the fire wasn't us. Everyone knew were grilling that afternoon. They assured me that they didn't put any in the dumpster and it must've been a prank. The firefighters put the fire out, and left. A few days later I conned my roommates into telling me the truth about dumpster. What they said is the had filled a white garbage sack with coals, and it burned through. So they put the ones that burned through along the rocks, and the ashes and few small pieces that remained they through in the dumpster. Of course it was an accident, but anyone whose ever been and enjoyed the great outdoors knows you don't put hot coals in a garbage can 3 hours after you grill? Hahahaha, well I guess it's safe to say not all chicks are country girls. Happy Mothers Day!:)

The Pines Dance Party

Welcome to the smelly Pines Dance Party. It was actually pretty cool. What the did was hand out fliers to most of the complexes. The hired a DJ with lights to sit in the common area. Above is one end of the hallway from where the DJ stood. The other side of the hallway was more crowded and too hard to get a picture of. They took the whole 3rd floor of the building, opened all windows and air passages and let everyone dance for a few hours. SO MUCH FUN! It was ridiculously boiling though. The minute we got in, we could feel the beads of sweat drip down our faces. It was crazy. I couldn't help but think: "what if Stephanie's boss let her throw parties at the ridge like this?" haha, I can't even imagine! But since this is a relatively new complex as far as new ownership, I'm sure the statement they were trying to send out was "Hey live at the pines for young men, we throw killer parties"

Here is all us roommates so sweaty. Mid way through the evening.

[gross]

This is Katie and Jay. Jay had her wisdom teeth out on the morning of thirsty thursday. The trooper went out every single night. I'm not sure how she did it, but her mouth seems to healing quite well. You can see she's a little bit of a chipmunk in these pictures. I'm sure she can't wait to get rid of the puffy face. Although, having 2 roommates have the wisdom teeth out in the same month has it's perks. The bishopric brought us each a milkshake:) So awesome.

Thirsty Thursday

Brianne and I before the party began!

Bri, Gina, Me, Katie, and Jay. So much fun! We think about 70 people or so showed up. We served root beer floats which cost us about $6 each roommate. Since our party we have had so many randomly stop by to visit. It's nice to have an open door, and meet so many new people.

As you can see we're having a blast:)

This is what our living room looks like. The floor is completely open for all our guests. Any other night of the week though we have two love sacks that occupy the space.

1) setting up root beer pong.
2) Estimating how many more cups to buy
3) Beginning to fill the cups with ice cream to meet the demand before people arrive.

It was so much fun to have a party at our house. Many were surprised that we didn't get shut down. There could be multiple reasons why we didn't. Either Erin was out of town, because her car was not at her house all evening...Or because the relief society president and our MA's Sister was here at our party. We were pretty respectful, the music was loud, but we were sure to double check what it sounded like all around our apartment to assure others we wouldn't disturb any studiers. Originally when the idea came up, we posted a facebook event and invited all our friends we wanted to come. Word traveled and our friends brought friends. From Thirsty Thursday we have met so many new acquantances, and hope they'll return to future parties. Stephanie today talked to me about the party pictures up on facebook. She was telling me that the "appearance of evil" has got a lot of people in trouble with the school. But technically the only rule we broke was that of having too many people in our apartment at once. As much as I would "LOVE" to follow all of the rules, I am careful about the ones we break. Stephanie being a manager is a risk I know, therefore i'm super cautious in anything we do/say/or have in our apartment. But at the same time, we're just having fun, and should I let my sister being a property manager for my residence get in the way of meeting people and having fun? I don't think so. I understand what she was saying about the appearance of evil, and yes maybe it isn't quite right to play "root"beer pong. & maybe it's definatly not right to be posting pictures of it on facebook. I can't help but think of all the parties and gatherings Adam, Curt...and Matt have all had. So really, I don't feel bad for throwing a huge innocent party. And I also don't feel bad for our temporary cardboard and duct tape stripper pole that our bishopric laughed at. It was all out of good innocent fun. Nothing was hurt, and I'm so happy the party had a good turn out. Now everyone knows the girls at 303 are fun and personable. Steph I'm not writing all of this to "un" justify what you said haha, I get your concern and i'll be more careful.

Roommates:)

So far I have loved my roommates. Each and every one of them is so unique in her own way and it really adds to the apartment vibe. We get along so well, and it makes the stress load of work and school so much easier. It's great to be excited to get home and relax with some of the most wonderful ladies. I'm truly lucky with my roommates this semester, and hope that it continues to be this great:)


Top Left --> Right, Deanna (me), Sasha Zimmerman-Lopez (Missouri), Shontall Ostler (Colorado)
Bottom Left --> Right, Janet Moncada (Illinois), Katie Weigel (Virgina), Breanne Herr (Arizona)

Shontall & I at Dennys this last weekend! So tired for work the next day:)